Rate My Professor Christopher Dumas

Dr. Christopher F. Dumas serves as Professor of Economics in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), a position he has held since 2009. He joined UNCW in 1997 as an Assistant Professor of Economics, advancing to Associate Professor in 2003. Prior to his current department, he was in the Department of Economics and Finance. A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, he earned dual B.S. degrees in Economics and Conservation/Environmental Science from North Carolina State University in 1990, an M.S. in Natural Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991, and a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Economics from Berkeley in 1997. His research specializations include natural resource economics, with emphasis on fisheries economics, coastal tourism economics, coastal water quality economics, coastal storm and hurricane economics, and saltwater aquaculture economics. Over his career, Dumas has secured extensive grant funding, exceeding $1 million cumulatively by 2007 (UNCW Million Dollar Club), including NOAA Sea Grant for black sea bass aquaculture, Lenfest Ocean Program for transboundary fisheries, and state projects on commercial fisheries impacts and coastal inlets.

Dumas has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and technical reports. Key works include Hudson et al. (2025, Journal of the World Aquaculture Society) on black sea bass production models; Shertzer et al. (2024, North American Journal of Fisheries Management) on red snapper strategies; Palacios-Abrantes et al. (2023, PLOS ONE) on fish range shifts; Buteau et al. (2023, Journal of Urban Ecology) on coyote management. He contributed to National Academies report on recreational fisheries (2021). Studies on North Carolina commercial fisheries (2021), inland fishing (2019), and beach inlets support coastal policy. Awards: UNCW Chancellor’s Teaching Award (2012), Faculty Reassignment Award (2011), Chancellor’s Outstanding Faculty Award (2000). He serves as Undergraduate Coordinator.